Attorneys can no longer demand cash from businesses they threaten with disability-access lawsuits under a bill signed Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown that also reduces fines for businesses that fix violations within a month of notification.

SB1186, a bipartisan measure co-authored by the Democratic and Republican leaders in the state Senate, is intended to cut down on litigation and payouts while increasing disability access, in large part by prohibiting lawyers from sending "demand for money" letters - in which lawyers pressure businesses into quick monetary settlements over access issues instead of seeking solutions to those problems.

Attorneys may still send businesses a letter advising them of the alleged violation and the potential for a lawsuit, but must tell the owner what the problem is and when it occurred.

"The whole point of our state and federal disability access laws is to remove barriers for the disabled, giving them full and equal access to businesses like everyone else. Up until now unfortunately, it was often cheaper and quicker for business owners to settle out of court than to remove those obstacles," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said in a statement. "SB1186 will instead provide more incentives to fix the violations and enhance accessibility."

The bill also reduces fines for businesses that fix unintentional violations within 30 to 60 days, and severely limits the "stacking" of fines, in which a business owner can be subject to additional penalties for each day a person visited the business and found it out of compliance.

Disability rights advocates opposed the reduced penalties, saying it would give businesses incentives to wait until they are sued to make changes.